Lumber company marked anniversary in style

COSHOCTON - A few weeks ago, Keim Lumber Company in Charm celebrated its anniversary with four days of sales, free doughnuts, coffee, popcorn and a pancake and sausage breakfast. On Saturday, drawings for door prizes took place. I had seen advertisements for the event from a mailing and ads in the Coshocton Tribune and The Beacon.

My wife and I decided to take advantage of the free pancake and sausage breakfast on Friday morning. It was being held from 7 to 9 a.m., and we showed up at 8:30 a.m. Many people were there already. The parking lot was full of cars, trucks, and Amish buggies.

Amish greeters handed out little cards to be filled out for the drawing. We filled out the cards and placed them in small containers at the writing desks. As we walked toward the breakfast venue, I saw the drum that held the cards for the drawing. It was about the size of a 55-gallon drum, and it was already three-quarters full. I mentally kissed away my chances of getting one of the Saturday prizes.

As we walked up the stairs to the restaurant area, I saw many people waiting in a line that almost completely surrounded the large atrium area of Keims. It was 8:45 a.m. by now, and I was hoping that we would get served before the 9 a.m. advertised end of breakfast. The line moved quickly, and we picked up our two pancakes and two sausages meal and found seats easily. The breakfast was good, and the sausages were the best I ever had. Wait staff came by the tables offering extra pancakes and sausages along with coffee and bottled water.

I was so impressed by the sausages that I asked what they were and who made them. I was told that they came from Sugar Valley Meats in Sugar Creek.

I did a little shopping and that got me another card for the drawing. At the cashier station, Keim had set up a TSA-like people handler with an employee at the head of the line directing you to the next open cash register. There were seven cashier stations in operation at 10 a.m. This is obviously a big sales event for the store.

That morning, we saw two Coshocton families that we knew. Also, many Amish families were eating and shopping there. Things were very orderly, clean, and well managed. It is always a pleasure going to Keim Lumber. It is way more than a lumber company. It is a classy home improvement and handyman mecca. Whenever we have out-of-town guests, we take them through Amish country and always stop at Keims. They are usually favorably impressed and say they don’t have anyplace like that near them.

On the way home, I took a detour to Sugar Creek to get some of those delicious sausages from Sugar Valley Meats. They are called fresh pork sausage-link. The sausages served at the breakfast were about 5/8 inch in diameter and specially made for Keim’s event. The usual sausage is 1 ¼ inch in diameter, and that is what was available for us to buy. I was told that the smaller diameter sausages can be ordered ahead of time, but a minimum order of 5 pounds is required.

We had a pleasant drive through Amish country on our way to Charm and back and saw some early plowing getting done with four-horse teams.

By the way, my intuition was right. I did not win a door prize on Saturday.

Robert Brems is a Coshocton resident and frequent contributor to the Tribune.